


True Aspirations and Pride Month

by Yunime



Category: Original Work, True Aspirations
Genre: Comedy, Fluff and Humor, Gay Male Character, Gay Pride, Gen, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Character of Color, LGBTQ Themes, Middle School, Non-binary character, One Shot, POV First Person, Pansexual Character, Pride, Trans Female Character, pride month 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:01:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24480262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yunime/pseuds/Yunime
Summary: Rudy wants to celebrate Pride Month, but how? Luckily, with the help of Lisa, Nagisa, and Ruby, the trio can have a successful celebration, and contribute something to the community.
Kudos: 1





	True Aspirations and Pride Month

**Author's Note:**

> Just a bunch of middle-schoolers celebrating Pride Month, and having fun. 
> 
> This is told from Rudy’s point of view. Enjoy!

For most people, June’s just another month of summer vacation. I’m not saying that isn’t great, but there’s more to it than that. I’m not talking about Father’s Day, either. June is Pride Month, so every year, my sister and I celebrate it. It’s only different now, since we have the club and all, so… How are we gonna celebrate it this year? 

I came out to my mom about me liking boys around two years ago. She didn’t really think it was a huge deal, so that’s nice. Honestly, I was really confused back then.

I’m kinda popular at school (even though I don’t deserve it), so a lot of girls try to get to know me a lot. I’ve even received some love letters on Valentine’s Day, but I never know how to respond. I feel bad for making them upset, but I dunno what else to do. There are some boys that like me, but only a few. They aren’t really that nice, either… I’m asking for too much, but I just want someone that’s like a prince… I love those fairytales.

Oh, I’m getting off topic. So, how are we gonna celebrate Pride Month this year? Hmm, we could make some art or something… No, I should probably ask someone else, like Lisa. She always knows how to plan things. I think Ruby is off doing her own thing, and I don’t wanna interfere. We can have club meetings during the summer, so that’s nice. Yeah, I’ll ask her on Monday.

*****

I stepped into the clubroom, and… Turns out nobody else is here. I’m surprised that Lisa is early, though. She’s usually always late. She’s just sitting at the table, and staring at it. That’s weird.

And of course, as soon as I say “Hey,” she has a freak-out.

“W-Woah, wait, where’d you come from? Did you teleport here? Did Miette send you here?!”

“Why would Miette send me here? I’m not an agent!”

I tried to calm her down, but it didn’t work. It never works. I can’t do this… It’d take a miracle. That miracle would be im—

“Hi.”

Oh, I guess Nagisa was the miracle. Good… They’re pretty chill, so maybe Lisa can— Wait, why’s Lisa so early?

I asked, “I thought you were gonna come later on, Lisa. Are you in a rush or something?”

“What? N-No,” She replied, “This month is just special. No other reason. You think something’s wrong with me?”

“I didn’t say anything like that…”

“Good! Because I just finished putting together our movie list!”

“A movie list?” That’s weird, nobody said anything about that. And why a movie list?

“See?” She shoved her phone in front of my face. It was blinding. 

“Can you lower your phone, please?”

“Nah! Just look at this! I put together a list of movies that we’re gonna watch for June! Y’know what June is, right?”

“Yeah, but why movies? We aren’t a… Movie club.”

“We aren’t! But we’re anything! So tonight, we’re gonna have a marathon and watch all these pride movies!”

I took a closer look, and woah. That’s a lot of movies. “How are we gonna finish all those in one night? Won’t you get tired?”

“Oh please, like I can get tired. You follow, Nagisa?”

I guess that Nagisa’s been standing there the whole time, and not even listening. They aren’t saying anything at all. I’m not surprised.

“Let’s watch one with fish in it,” They finally replied. I figured. Lisa probably won’t like this, though.

“What if there aren’t any?” Once Lisa asked that, Nagisa’s answer was obvious.

“Then I’ll just die.”

Oh, I wasn’t expecting that. I had to say, “W-Wait, don’t die, please,” Before Nagisa got even more… Extreme.

“C’mon,” Lisa said, “There’s plenty you might like! For example, uh… This one has a non-binary main character! You like that, right?”

“...Yes,” Nagisa responded. Yup, Lisa won ‘em over. 

I figured that I should ask, “Hey, any trans-focused movies?”

“Hah, obviously. I made the list after all! There’s no way I could just leave those out!” 

That’s neat. I actually haven’t watched any of those before. I bet Lisa has, though. She can relate to them. 

I wanna watch more of those movies, but I’m a bit too nervous. My family doesn’t mind, which is great, but I dunno. Not everyone supports gays. At least I have the club.

Wait, speaking of the club, where are we gonna watch the movies?

I felt bad for asking so many questions, but… “Uh, Lisa? We don’t have a TV in here.”

“Good observation! That’s why we’re asking a teacher to bring one in here!”

“Oh oka— Wait what?!” Lisa should know already, the teachers aren’t supposed to—

“I lied, we aren’t asking one. I already asked one!”

“Ohhh...?”

“It’s not that confusing.”

“...Yeah, I know, but still.” Does Min-Jun even wanna watch these, though?

“It’ll be fine, I spoke to a dumb teacher who knows nothing about our club. She doesn’t think it’s a fake.”

That was kinda mean. Not all teachers are dumb. “Okay then. So, what time are we doing this?”

“At five. We wanna do this early enough so we can binge them all!”

“Oh, okay. Are you sure we’re allowed to stay over for so long? It’s—“

“No more questions! You with us, Nagisa?”

They just simply said, “Yes.” That’s probably the only sentence they were listening to. 

Anyway, after all that, Lisa darted out of the room to do who-knows-what. Nagisa was still standing there for some reason. What were they thinking of…?

“Hey, are you there?” I didn’t get an answer. “Hello?” No answer. I’m about to give up.

“I have an idea. Let’s deck the room,” They finally replied.

Wait, what’s that supposed to mean?

They went on, _“Deck… Decor… Deodora— Decorate._ Let’s decorate the clubroom.”

“Oh. But with what?”

“Rainbows. Lot’s of them.”

“You’re not being very specific…” Wait, decorating the room with rainbows? “Oh, I get it.”

“A pink and blue one for Lisa, too.”

“Yeah, and the pan flag for Ruby. What does the non-binary flag look like, again?”

“I dunno. It has purple.”

“Hah, alright, I’ll just look it up. That’s actually a good idea, Nagi.”

“I dunno.”

*****

A few minutes later, Min-Jun came in, at last. He was probably confused about why Nagisa and I were coloring huge pieces of cardboard. I mean, the construction paper wasn’t big enough, so all we could do was use cardboard. At least the color showed up a little.

“What are you doing? Using those cheap-o crayons?” Min-Jun cringed.

I said, “It’s all we have.”

“Ugh, and cardboard? What are you guys even doing?”

“We’re trying to make flags, but they aren’t really flags. Wait, that doesn’t make sense, uh…”

“We’re decking the room,” said Nagisa. Close enough.

“They look bad. Are you tryna make paper flags, or…?”

“Not really. They’re kinda like banners being hung in the room,” I explained.

“Oh, okay. So a paper flag banner. I can do that.”

“Really?” Since when was Min into crafty stuff? 

“It’s easy, dude. I can’t believe you resorted to cardboard. We have everything we need except for a sewing machine, but that’s in the art room.”

“Well, do you know how to sew?”

“A little. My mom taught me a few years ago.”

“Cool, thanks for the help.”

“Uh, sure.”

I told him what kind of banners needed to be made, and he got the memo. Afterwards, he left the clubroom, and probably asked a teacher if he could use the art room for a bit. Club meetings were allowed, so that meant a few teachers were there, too. I kinda feel bad for them. They still have to be at the building during the summer, but it’s not like they really do much anyway…

It was just Nagisa and I again, until Ruby entered the clubroom. I thought she’d be here later, but maybe Lisa told her about the thing we’re doing.

“I’m back!” Lisa hollered, “Look, look, Ruby said she’s in!” I guess I was right.

Ruby greeted, “Hey bro! What are y’all doing? And… Why’s there cardboard paper?” She looked so confused, I probably look dumb to my own sister.

“Uh…” I said, “We were done with these, but I dunno where to put them. Min-Jun actually asked a few minutes ago.”

“Oh, neat. So, what do y’all wanna do before the movies?”

“I’m not sure. We’re waiting for Min to finish the paper flags. Apart from that, there’s nothing to do.”

“Hmm… We can listen to music. Y’know what kind I mean, right?”

“Metal?”

“No, no, I mean music for Pride Month. I actually made my own playlist the other day.”

“That’s cool. And yeah, we can do that.” 

“‘Kay Ruby, gimme your phone!” Lisa snatched Ruby’s phone from her hand and stopped at the passcode screen. “Uh, what’s your password?”

“Please give it back.” Ruby took it back from Lisa and entered her password. She went straight to her music streaming app. “Hmm…”

For an hour straight, the four of us listened to the music being played on Ruby’s phone. There were a lot of songs focused on pansexuality, which makes sense for Ruby. Some gay and trans ones were included too. But… I couldn’t help but notice that Nagisa was acting a bit off the entire time. I could tell that they were at least a little happy, but I dunno, they also kinda seemed gloomy. I’ll probably get on their nerves if I ask about it, so I’ll wait ‘til five. 

We have an hour left for the movies, and that’s probably around the time a teacher will bring that TV in here. Ruby ran out of songs in her playlist, so what now? It’d be great if…

“Hey, I’m back.” Yup, it’s Min. “At least gimme a hand or something.”

“Oh, right.” I went over to him and helped carry the paper flag banners. “They turned out well, these look legit.”

“Yeah, you could sell ‘em!” Lisa blurted.

“S-Sure, whatever.” Aww, he’s turning red. 

“So,” Ruby asked, “How are we gonna hang these up?”

“We could probably just ask the teacher who’s coming in with the TV,” Lisa replied.

The same teacher she thought was dumb? “Uh, isn’t that too much work for her?”

“Nah, it’s fine. Besides, it’s not like the teachers here do anything anyway.”

“Yeah, this school sucks,” Min added. He keeps going on about that… I wonder how it was back in Korea. 

“I’m so excited!” Ruby paused, “But how are we gonna stay up?” She’s on the same wavelength as I am. Respect.

Lisa exclaimed, “I stocked up on some sugar the other day! A lot of it. Maybe too much.”

“That’s not something to be proud of,” I warned, “Sugar’s bad for you. Do you wanna get sick?”

“Please, I’m not gonna get sick! Nobody will!”

Min-Jun mumbled, “Says the person who has caviti—“ 

“Only ONE!”

It’s sad that Lisa had to clarify that in the first place. 

Once the flag banners were all placed onto the table, Min-Jun closely observed the designs. He’s the one who made them, though. Does he think something is wrong? They look fine to me.

“Who’s non-binary?” He asked. I think everyone mentally facepalmed at that one.

“Nagisa,” I responded. “Wait, I thought you knew already!”

“I thought they were a dude this entire time!”

“Who did you think was non-binary?”

“A teacher?!”

“No.”

“You guys never tell me anything! It ain’t my fault!”

“Well, at least Min knows now,” Ruby commented. 

Lisa added, “Yup. What a dummy…”

“I heard that,” Min-Jun muttered. I hope he isn’t too angry. He looked over to Nagisa and noticed their expression. “You good, Nagi?” Yeah, they did look a bit sad.

“I’m fine,” They replied. 

“Look, don’t get the wrong idea,” Min continued, “I’m not mad at you.”

“You don’t think I’m weird?”

“No, of course not. You’re cool.”

“That’s something I never thought I’d hear from you!” Lisa chuckled.

“Shut up, you called me a dummy,” Min jokingly sneered.

“It’s the truth, though!”

“You…” 

“I’m kidding dude.”

“Y’know…” Ruby suggested, “We can have Nagisa hang these up. They’re super tall.”

“Yeah, taller than the eiffel tower,” Min quipped. 

I thought it over for a second. “Yeah. You okay with that, Nagi?”

“Yes.” They nodded in reply. “I need hooks.”

Min offered, “I’ll get them for you. Those hooks are in the art room.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Min went off to grab the clear hooks. Once he returned, he handed them to Nagisa. 

It took a few minutes, but Nagisa was able to hang them all across the clubroom. The room looked a bit more colorful now. I gotta admit, I’m a bit more excited for this movie marathon than I was before. 

Turns out that the teacher came in earlier than we thought, so we got the TV. Lisa managed to figure out how to cast her phone’s screen onto the TV, and pulled up the website she was gonna use to watch the movies. Everyone watches them illegally now...

“So, I guess we’re starting early!” Lisa piped, “That means more movies!”

“How many are there again?” Asked Ruby.

“Hmm, let’s see… Around twenty.”

“Twenty? That’s way too many!”

“Well, if we cross out the ones that are two hours long, it won’t be _that_ much.”

“We might have to cut ten of them…” I muttered.

“I’m not staying here to watch all of those. It’s too long.” Min explained, “I texted my dad earlier, and he said that I have to be back by midnight.”

“That’s alright, at least we get to hang out together.” Ruby smiled widely.

Nagisa stated, “I’m waiting for the fish ones.”

“We’re not watching movies on ocean life. Just go to Seaworld,” Min advised. 

We all laughed together, and honestly, just being here with the club made my day. It’s not like that’s not the case during school, but I’m just happy. I’ve never really had a way to celebrate Pride Month with my friends, since I don’t really have any real ones. There was this one girl who liked me, but I responded with “I like guys.” She was disgusted after that. Not everyone is supportive of that sorta thing, but I know plenty who are. That’s who I’m sticking with.

Nagisa, Min, Ruby, and Lisa have been with me all the way. They’re really supportive, nice, and get along with each other pretty well too, despite not even knowing each other too much. I feel like this club is where I belong. I’m glad I formed it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Kudos and comments are always appreciated. Happy Pride Month, everyone! ❤️


End file.
